Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Thursday took the wraps off its much-awaited Ascend Mate 7 smartphone. This phablet-flagship from the company marks the entry of Huawei in the club of smartphone makers with fingerprint scanner-enabled smartphones.

“Today marks the arrival of our fastest and most compelling big-screen smartphone experience for consumers. It’s a symbol of our relentless commitment to ‘Make it Possible’ for people everywhere to enjoy our premium quality products,” said Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Consumer Business Group.

“Huawei Ascend Mate7 actually leads the big-screen pack with smarter performance, impressive power efficiency, and outstanding convenience with its superior single-touch fingerprint technology,” Yu added.

Huawei Ascend Mate 7 sports a one-touch fingerprint scanner (like Apple iPhone 5s) on the back, which it claims is very accurate and doesn’t require swiping of your fingers. It can also work with wet fingers or under light-rain conditions.

Made of 95pc metal with an aluminium alloy chassis, the Mate 7 is powered by the company’s own octa-core chip Kirin 950 and comes with 6-inch full HD display, 4G LTE support, 2/ 3GB of RAM, 4100 mAh battery and Android 4.4-based Emotion UI 3.0. The Mate 7 also features a 13MP rear camera with f2.0 and BSI sensor as well as 5MP front shooter.

Pricing and availability:

According to Huawei, Ascend Mate 7 will be released in thirty markets this quarter beginning with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Hong Kong and China. The 2GB RAM and 16GB storage variant will cost €499, while the 3GB RAM and 32GB memory version will be priced at €599. The phone will be available in Black, Silver and Gold colour options.